Feature Hierarchy

Clusters Beat Trend!? Testing Feature Hierarchy in Statistical Graphics

Susan VanderPlas

Iowa State University

Graphics and Perception

The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.

John Tukey

Gestalt Laws of Perception

The whole is different than the sum of the parts

• Rules that make sense of complex visual information using experience
• Information organized hierarchically
• Subconscious process to order and group visual input

Gestalt Plots